I'm looking to buy a new HD camcorder for videos on the site

[Chris]

I currently use a Flip Mino HD to upload the videos I run on the site but would like to get something with a little better quality.

I am looking at buying this Canon HF200 for $549.99

Anyone here also a big camcorder fan that wants to chime in?

[ThisIsNot]

JVC has a 1080p camcorder coming out in Japan (which means it is months away from a U.S. release). It packs a 120GB hard drive in the world's smallest package (for a hard drive based camcorder). The unit weighs 270 grams (wouldn't that be a mass?).

What would you need out of the camcorder? Hard drive camcorders are rather stable these days but they aren't recommended for video shoots that require running, jogging, jolts, bumps, etc. SSD/SDHC camcorders would be able to handle this. However, you often get more bang for your buck with the hard drive camcorders.

The Canon you linked us to looks pretty solid. The 1080p/24 recording capability is an added plus as many HDTVs are now accepting true cinema 1080p/24 (that is 24 fps) input and are playing the videos at that framerate.

JVC has some other camcorders that have 60GB hard drives with (pretty much) the same features as the Canon you linked to for about $500-$550. I have had experiences with JVC, Canon, Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic camcorders. I feel that Samsung, Panasonic, and Sony all charge a high price while others (like JVC and Canon) offer comparable camcorders for less. The only thing is that Sony often includes small features such as a touch screen and other little things. These normally aren't worth the extra $200-$300 that Sony charges when compared with Canon. I still have a Canon MiniDV camcorder that works without issues. I had to replace the battery but the camcorder still records video just fine. I think it is about 6 years old now and was one of the first "micro" models (ie it was about the size of 6 decks of cards) on the market.

However, one of the best thing you can purchase is a dedicated lighting instrument. I have seen these pocket HD camcorders produce great videos when the shooting area is properly lit. Consumer grade lights often produce a drab, yellow tinge that comes across as being a dark brown through the camera. A dedicated shooting light would ensure that you get white, bright (but not too bright) light when shooting videos.

[netbooking]

Originally Posted by Chris Guthrie

I am looking at buying this Canon HF200 for $549.99

Good choice. Like ThisIsNot, I have a Canon miniDV camcorder. The tape gives me an archive and it works well with my Mac setup. Features I like on mine and your choice are the capabilities for external sound and external lighting. Built in sound is just not effective for presentations. You need a mic on you. Extra lighting is also effective for the best images as ThisIsNot commented. Carry weight is good at 14.1 ounces - at 28 grams to the ounce that's about three hamburger patties.

The codec used for SD cards compresses the image stream. You will need a horsepower computer to decode and re-encode in other streams if you decide to edit. The target audience needs viewing capability so you will have to research what viewers use.

The same thing I posted about Skype use applies to video podcasts for the most effective use of your equipment. Add a tripod to avoid the shakes though. Hardware alone just cannot do the job.

I'm excited about your video choice since I'm a visual learner.

[ThisIsNot]

Actually, netbooks are powerful enough to edit standard definition videos now. I have even done some light editing of HD videos using Windows Movie Maker (under Windows 7) on my netbook. I didn't realize that my netbook would be powerful enough to perform basic cuts, animations, text effects on a 720p 25Mbps mpeg-4 AVC video and then output that as a 720p WMV VC-1 video encoded at 5Mbps (which looks alright, I prefer lossless video editing with Sony Vegas on my desktop, my netbook is not powerful enough to run that).

So SD videos no longer require that workhorse computer to edit and save. There was a time when this was true but hardware these days are built around SD video features (ie encoding, decoding, editing, etc.). Sure, advanced effects (like CGI) can only be done on powerful computers (unless you want the video to come off like a SyFy original series or one of those tech college videos) but netbooks can perform SD editing tasks that would be more than enough for average and even moderate video editors.

HD video... Well, netbooks can handle the basics. You would need a powerful computer for that. The dual-core desktops at work with 4GB of RAM and a PCI-express 512MB ATI card is more than powerful enough for this. So I don't think you need an 8-core machine (though that makes things go by much faster), a dual-core model with at least 2GB of RAM would be more than good enough.

I forgot about a microphone input though. I remember when those "Dolby Digital" built in microphones came out that could record "5.1" audio. Yeah, terrible audio in 5.1 is still terrible audio. Even an inexpensive clip microphone (with only stereo/mono recording) would provide better results.

I have migrated to a camcorder that uses SDHC cards as I grew tired of the MiniDV tapes. I hated plugging my camcorder into my computer to record the video over. SDHC cards (or even hard drive storage camcorders) make movie management so much easier as now I only have to work with digital files. I really like having the ability to take the SDHC card out of my camcorder and popping it in my netbook for playback. The new camcorder I have records 1080p video (this is true 1080p, not that 1440X1080 stuff) at 25Mbps using mpeg-4 AVC (it luckily puts the movies in an mpeg-4 container, not MOV or custom containers). It takes all of 1 minute to put the SDHC card in my netbook to copy the videos over to my portable 500GB USB hard drive.

[netbooking]

TIN man, your hardware usage is awesome.

I do the Canon miniDV, firewire to 2.4GHz/4GB RAM C2D MacBook with a 20in Apple monitor for my iMovie/Final Cut Express dance with just SD. No HD.

I had not considered the netbook at all. Screen size on either the 8.9in 901 or 10.1in 1KHE, not to mention 1024X600 resolution, was not a comfortable editing thought for me. Can you talk specifics? What netbook have you used for editing? What video editing software natively edits MPEG4-AVC / H.264 HD on a netbook? What camcorder have you used?

I've been looking at camcorders for over a year without making the jump. My wife knows this and offered to buy whatever I wanted as my Christmas present. My medical care of her through her skin cancer ordeal has made her effusive of my husbanding. LOL I have to admit the Canon that Chris is considering is tempting. Taking the time to lay out a new system and learn to use it has been a put off. You help would be appreciated.

[ThisIsNot]

I have been editing on my 10" HP Mini, the resolution is 1366X768. Much better than the 1024X600 resolution on the Eee series. I can actually view 1280X720 content without having to downscale.

Windows Movie Maker (which is called Live Movie Maker now or some such nonsense) supports full mpeg-4 AVC video importing and editing. It still outputs using WMV but MS updated this to their latest VC-1 encoder. The camcorder is a Samsung HMX-H100N/XAA model. Not my personal favorite but that is what we have at work so that is what I use for free. I plan on purchasing a camcorder for myself next year when SSD prices go down and capacities go up. I have a hard time spending $600+ on an HD camcorder that comes with only 8GB of built-in storage knowing that I will have to spend an additional $40 for a 32GB SDHC card. We are also on the brink of 64GB SDXC cards which will likely cost $100+ when they are first released. I would rather wait until I could get a 1080p HD camcorder that produces a nice picture, has 32GB of built-in storage, and has the option of working with SDXC cards.

I am also thinking about getting a hard drive based camcorder. I doubt I will ever run and shoot film and there are models with 100GB+ hard drives for nice prices (and nice features).

Either way, SD videos can be edited on a netbook with many animations options, image effects, text options, etc. HD videos can be edited too but you will basically be limited to using Live Movie Maker and performing basic cuts, animations, etc. I have been able to fully edit 5Mbps 720p videos without issues. I really only get lag whenever I go up to 10Mbps 720p videos. 25Mbps 1080p video editing is pretty much impossible unless you feel like waiting 1 hour just for a 5 minute video to import into Movie Maker. I use Sony Vegas on my desktop which support lossless video editing. Live Movie Maker re-encodes the videos for output but Vegas has options for not doing this. Vegas also supports the hardware encoding chip on my ATI GPUs for times whenever I want to encode down to a lower bitrate. It takes all of 15 minutes to output a 90 minute movie encoded at 5Mbps, mpeg-4 AVC, and 1080p (this involves re-encoding, not re-encoding makes output even quicker).

[netbooking]

Originally Posted by ThisIsNot

Windows Movie Maker (which is called Live Movie Maker now or some such nonsense) supports full mpeg-4 AVC video importing and editing.

What you describes saves time since I don't have to go back to my home office before getting any work done. Back in August I had searched quite a bit for video editing options for myself and for cokids who posted earlier about needing a video editor.

Back to you later. I have several big events this week. Need to work.

[ThisIsNot]

I should clarify that is under Windows 7 which fully supports the mpeg-4 container, h.263/h.264 video, and AAC audio. It isn't the same under Windows XP. I don't even know if it is the same under Windows Vista since that doesn't have native support for all things mpeg-4.

[netbooking]

Originally Posted by ThisIsNot

I have been editing on my 10" HP Mini, the resolution is 1366X768...Windows Movie Maker (which is called Live Movie Maker now or some such nonsense) supports full mpeg-4 AVC video importing and editing.

Wow, great setup and a terrific combo. If I didn't already have a fab Asus 901 that I use for all sorts of things except editing, I would go for the 10" HP Mini, WMM and a flash based camcorder. The editing software is a super value at free and a good learning tool for the beginner. Output for YouTube is a winner.

I'm more at the intermediate editing level (such as this Adobe software or this Apple software) so I need a few more bells and whistles on my editing program and of course that takes a little more horsepower.

I appreciate your input and I'm sure Chris does too. He seems to be serious about improving his web product. That Canon matched with a tripod, external mic and good lighting will make him a video craft winner. That's good for all of us.

[ThisIsNot]

I said it was basic with Movie Maker. I use Sony Vegas on my desktop which offers a lot more features. However, that also requires at least a dual-core 2.5GHz processor with 3GB of RAM and a 512MB PCI-express graphics card. So the option is there for basic video editing (in 720p no less) with netbooks. Sure, you aren't going to make an HBO quality documentary but you can hammer out a PBS quality program (the PBS down here uses Movie Maker for many of their documentaries).